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Government soft on China, says BJP

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday charged the government with “internationalising” the Arunachal Pradesh issue and going “soft on China.”

Party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad referred to a report in a section of the media that External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna had told the World Bank that India would not ask for funding for any Arunachal Pradesh-specific project. Moreover, the Chinese executive director of the bank was pressing for going ahead on the basis of Mr. Krishna's statement.

Mr. Prasad said the new National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon was known for his “soft line on China” as against the former NSA, M.K. Narayanan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said in Parliament on Friday that India and China had the best of relations. Yet, Mr. Prasad said, on one issue or the other, especially on Arunachal Pradesh, it was as if the government itself was acknowledging that the State was disputed territory.